Hangouts for Android is receiving a solid update today that introduces stickers, smart suggestions in conversations, timestamps, and more. Announced in the early hours of the day, the Hangouts team mentioned that the update will begin rolling out at some point later day, along with a few extras they want us to discover on our own. One of those unmentioned features must be an app makeover, which you can clearly see in the action bar in the screenshots above.

For now, we know that 16 new sticker packs will join all of your favorite emoji. You now have even more ways to express yourself, plus there are some hidden tricks in there that you should see after typing “woot” or “hahaha” or “happy birthday.” The personalization doesn’t stop with stickers; video calls are also getting “extra flair.” Your video calls will soon be filter-able, with options like sepia, vignette, black and white, and more.

Here is a look at some of the stickers:

Outside of the personalization stuff, Hangouts is also getting smarter. The app, once updated, will make it easier for you to connect to people if they have their phone number connected to the app. Speaking of connected, Hangouts will now show a “last seen” timestamp in conversations so that you know if someone is around to chat or if they haven’t been for a while and you can save a few thumb taps. Finally, the Hangouts app will try to suggest quick replies based on your conversation. Think things like location sharing in one click immediately after your friend asks, “Where are you?”

Again, the update is rolling out at some point today. After looking at the Google Play listing for the app it doesn’t appear to have been pushed just yet. Once it is, we will be sure to let you know.

For those who aren’t seeing the GVoice SMS options in conversation, you probably have specifically set the outgoing SMS number. To change it, open the side menu, tap settings, tap SMS, tap Send SMS from, tap Smart Reply. Once this is turned on, when you are in a conversation, opening the send from menu will show Hangouts, SMS and GVoice SMS.

Ice2097

Not seeing the “last seen” feature… This also removed statuses from the contact list view for me.

Julian Coronado

Your contacts also need the update before you can see their last time online.

xzero425x

I’ve actually been enjoying the google messaging app after i got 5.0 aosp. I’m sticking with that for a while over hangouts, i just wish you could archive in it >.<

LaFave07

Anyone else have the issue where you start a new convo with someone and notifications are automatically off by default?

Anyone know a fix?

Alan Paone

why is this app going so hard on the stickers and emoji? ick

Cael

Holy sh*t, I can now flawlessly switch between Hangouts, Google Voice, and Carrier Numbers all in one combined message.

Open the side menu, tap settings, tap SMS, tap Send SMS from, tap Smart Reply. Once this is turned on, when you are in a conversation, opening the send from menu will show Hangouts, SMS and GVoice SMS.

Fozzybare

I’m still having an issue with my nexus 6 not updating the messages sent and received on my computer. It kind of sucks

Ice2097

Yeah same with Moto X… have to keep swiping down on the conversation window on the phone and the messages appear one at a time.

Tom S

I’ve never done this before… Surprising considering I’ve rooted, unlocked bootloaders, and flashed ROMs… But if you sideload an updated APK for an app it doesn’t mess up future automated updates, does it? I’ve always just let the Play Store update everything so far, so I’m not sure.

No it doesn’t as long as it’s signed by Google. Only apps that won’t update are the inverted or customized apps

Tom S

Updated!

WK

what about the ability to switch between convos easily? did they reenable the ability to slide the friend list out from the left side of the screen so i can switch to another convo without having to hit the back button twice or reach for the back button all the way at the top left?

i’m still on hangouts 2.1 because of this one huge annoyance. i’ve been detaching hangouts from market with tibu so it doesn’t update when i do an Update All in the play store.

Cael

Its flawless… So far

Jake

This was their big update? seems like a waste

Kevin

nothing happens when i type hahaha or happy birthday or woot

Joe Centineo

All ive gotten from these comments is to switch to Textra.. Just did and I’m pretty impressed haha

Textra lost out to OuikSMS and that was too buggy so I switched to Google Messenger

Terry West

Please tell me there is Android L here!!

Jesus Elle

Does anyone know why after I tap on the play link it doesn’t take me to the play store? It takes me to the stupid play web page in chrome. This started happen after lollipop update.

Jake

go into your phone and reset app preferences.

.we

can we finally send pictures without this ridiculous need for google+?!

Brian Menius

Less pre-teen garbage and more lag fix, please. Cripes.

JSo

What’s all this talk about Lag? It runs fine on my Nexus 5

crazed_z06

Most important thing about this update?!

It fixes the lagging scrolling, typing, and sending of messages on the NOTE 4!!!!!!

Trooper311

Disappointing update.

Darren

How do you get outgoing messages to show green and incoming to show white? That’s one of my biggest complaints on my phone is that I can’t easily tell which message is which…especially in large group messaging.

Skittlez

it shows that way if you’re doing a hangouts message. SMS doesn’t

Xious

Just an FYI, they did add the ability to change which number you are texting from on the fly (carrier or Google Voice). Next to the text field on the left, you can select the green bubble to send a Hangout message (IM), the grey SMS icon to send a text from you carrier number, or the blue SMS icon to send from your Google Voice number. That feature really needs to be added to this post. I think it’s one of the biggest requests.

crazed_z06

That’s been there for awhile.

To get it to work right, your contacts need to be linked up correctly though.

Tom Sweeney

Unless you have a totally different setup than I do the icons to the left of the text area only allow you to change the number you will be texting not the number you are texting from. For example, I can select to send a person a Hangout (green bubble), their SMS number (grey) or GV number. It does not allow me to change number from SMS or GV.

redbar0n11

Actually, if you enable Smart Reply in the SMS settings, you get 2 options for each number in that list. One is grey for using carrier number to text them, the other is blue indicating it will use Google Voice number to text that number with.

Xious

You must have “Smart Reply” selecting in the settings. Once you do, when you select that box, it will show all the numbers you have available for that contact but it will show each number twice, one with a grey SMS icon and one with a blue SMS icon. The grey will be sent from you carrier number and the blue will be sent from your GV number.

C-Law

They need to add hangouts integration to messenger, since they seem to not wanna change hangouts looks. I think messenger and it’s colors look so much better but I can’t use it since I prefer having txts and hangouts merged.
But I know they can’t since the point of messenger is to not have hangouts (free messaging and calling) so they can appease the carriers

Elyssa Doom

What about Google Messenger? Why are there these two apps that do almost the same thing?

Also, will this give it the smart emoticons ability like we have in Message+ from Verizon? For instance, if I type in Drink in a conversation it will give me a list of drink related emoticons?

Kevin

messenger is just for sms/mms, not google chat. and no, doesnt appear to have those vzw features.

JSo

To me, it seems that Hangouts is turning into the new Google Voice rather than just another SMS app

demarcmj

I wish they would add those chat heads that we saw in screenshots a few months ago. I know they are not super popular but as long as it is an option that you can turn on/off I don’t know why anyone would object.

JSo

That was for hangouts on desktop

sirmeili

And while I am getting used to them, I HATE that I can’t have more than 1 chat window open at a time. They just assume that we can only do one thing at a time I guess.

JSo

I don’t even use them. I still use the old style. It just makes more sense.

demarcmj

Yea I know about that but I thought I saw something at one point that showed them testing it on Android. I’m probably wrong. Either way… I wish they would add it.

Cesar Lopez

I think I’ll stick to the new Messenger SMS app. It’s just so intuitive, functional, and sooo sexy…

mcdonsco

Thanks to reading through this thread I found google messenger (didn’t know about it before)…so far seems almost perfect, except, the enter button is a damn emoticon button by default, again….and of course no way to switch its default behavior. Grrr…

Why does google insist on that damn emoticon button instead of enter? AT LEAST give people the option to set it to what they want Google!

And yes, I know I can temp switch it to enter while typing, but I NEVER use the emoticon button as it is, ever…wish I didn’t have to temp switch it every time i need the enter button.

Suicide_Note

I’m not seeing stickers anywhere. Are they only for hangouts, or for sms as well?

JSo

Tap the paper clip icon for attaching stuff

Suicide_Note

Oh, duh! Thanks for that. I never thought of it as an attachment. Was thinking they’d be with the emojis.

Mmini1990

Dark theme??

Tony Byatt

Looks good…

Still needs work though…

James Briano

I got it! And I will use these stickers absolutely never.

Cole Walter Tague

Where all all these new features such as where are you

Jérôme Besnard

I wish the Hangout team had received the Material Design memo… my wife just called me and asked me to un-bundle Hangout and Gvoice. That means she found the gvoice app easier to use than Hangout for mms. Unreal!

Cole Walter Tague

Totally unreal!

M C

Still needs better support for mms both for 1 person and an image or file, and for if you want to send to multiple people this is still wonky

Lucas

Unfortunately, people where i live like to use Whatsapp…not that is bad, but hangouts is much more polished.

Cole Walter Tague

Thanks. Much appreciative. I always get my latest updates from here.

mcdonsco

I keep trying to use hangouts here and there and always stop using it usually because its slow and annoying the way it switches back and forth from contacts and SMS (just stay on message list!).

Seems like google is trying to have hangouts do too much; I dont use the “hangouts” portion of the app and I suspect most dont either…break them out into separate apps.

Pretty sad when I prefer the stock messaging app on the phone.

gambit07

I use the hangouts portion of the app, and a bunch of my friends do as well. SMS and MMS have a lot of inherent limitations.

sirmeili

I primarily use Hangouts over SMS with most of the people I message on a regular basis. I love it cause I get the conversations on my desktop AND my phone AND my tablet and can respond to either. Would be nice if Google could add a way to SMS from other locations, but at this point, most of my family and friends are on Hangouts, so it might be a moot point.

AMTrombley89

The problem I see with this is that people don’t quite seem to know what they want… When the Messenger app got updated people were like “Why do we have 2 Google texting apps??? I thought Hangouts was their texting app!!!” And now people are like “Google should split the apps; Hangouts does too much.”

Ultimately I respect your opinion on the matter, and your right to have an opinion on the matter…but I’m just kind of over how wishy washy people are about changes Google makes. I think people want Hangouts to be like iMessage for Android, and I expect that’s what Google is working towards. But impatience while they let out incremental changes is annoying. Google, as well as the whole mobile market has learned that drastic change overnight is bad for loyalty and scared users off. So people need to show patience as they slowly work towards their final vision of Hangouts and instant messaging in general.

gtredfee

This issue also fixed an issue when it will notify even when you have the hangout message open

David Sridharan

No easy way to manually switch between sms and gv number. No SMS from computer, tablet, etc……you get stickers…..oh joy……

Kevin

those aren’t big complaints of mine, but they would definitely be useful improvements.

scoderp

With this update, there is a simple switch between SMS and GV. GV shows as blue in the “Send From” option in the bottom left of every message. @kellex:disqus should add this to the post.

Tony Byatt

That was there before this update…

scoderp

Strange, I’ve never been able to choose from my GV number before this update, unless I went into Hangouts settings and changed Send SMS From…

Adam Neighbors

It appears blue if using the GV number, but there’s still no quick way to switch to your carrier number.

scoderp

No, I have an option with this update to switch between Hangouts, GV number, and carrier number on the fly. Maybe this is a server-side change that they are rolling out.

Adam Neighbors

Maybe. That would be extremely nice. How does it work?

scoderp

As smooth as you’d expect. It’s no different than being able to switch between Hangouts and your carrier number, just has one more option for GV.

scoderp

Enable Smart Reply. Should work then.

sirmeili

Lets hope because I don’t have that option. I only have my hangouts and my carrier SMS (in the settings I have selected my carrier). I changed it to “smart reply” (or whatever it’s called) and now I have the option of SMS (in blue), which is my GV number, no option to send via carrier now. I”m sure if my wife texted me via my carrier number, it would give that option, but then I think I’d lose the option to use my GV number.

Kevin

i dont have it either.

Cael

clear the app’s data

MichaelFranz

there are settings for i, have been for the past 2-3 updates to hangouts i believe

Tony Byatt

Unless you were talking about when you start a new message…

There’s a prompt asking which number you would like to send from. That’s new…

scoderp

No, I’m talking about the bottom left of a Hangout, you have the ability to change on the fly from Hangouts, GV number, and carrier number.

Tony Byatt

Yeah, I had that ability before this update…

scoderp

Lol, I got that. We can assume it’s a server-side update, not part of the app update.

Tony Byatt

Yeah probably…

Kevin

“smart reply” needs to be on

scoderp

Good call

catalyst11

I never saw this before this update either. It was the reason I started using the Messenger app instead for SMS, because I couldn’t choose whether it was sent from my GV or Verizon number without going back into settings. Before today’s update, I could choose to send as Hangouts message or SMS but wasn’t able to choose as a GV or Verizon SMS.

sirmeili

Are you saying with today’s update, you can choose between GV and your Verizon SMS? If so, that would be awesome!

scoderp

After some talking to other users, it may be a server-side change being implemented now. Not sure if it depends on the app version.

Nate Webb

Yes. You can pick a number to send a SMS message to via your google voice number or carrier number in the message itself. This is VERY useful.

Tom Sweeney

Can you post a screenshot of what your options are? I only have the option of selecting (Hangouts, SMS or GV) for the person I am sending the message to.

scoderp

Enable Smart Reply.

Chris Hughes

I can confirm this update has this fixed. You can now switch back and forth.

Kevin

appears to be limited to some users at this point, i cant do it.

Chris Hughes

Weird. I literally could not do it ( I checked before I downloaded the APK) and now I can do it seamlessly

Arnol Lopez

Make sure under |SMS| options you have “smart reply” selected under |Send SMS From|. Otherwise it will not let you swap between carrier and GV sms.

David Sridharan

Correction: Switching between SMS and GV number manually is working (YEA!!!!!!!!!!). But SMS from carrier showing up everywhere in a similar fashion to push bullet or iOS is not. That’s the last functionality I need for Hangouts to be absolutely perfect for me. As an avid GV user being able to switch back and forth manually on the fly is a huge improvement!

Nate Webb

It’s working for me. I’ve got options like crazy for switching back and forth if smart reply is enabled.

Kevin

how do you enable that, i dont see that option in settings. nor are any of the “smart reply” features working that are mentioned in the article.

Open the side menu, tap settings, tap SMS, tap Send SMS from, tap Smart Reply. Once this is turned on, when you are in a conversation, opening the send from menu will show Hangouts, SMS and GVoice SMS.

Kevin

there we go! i just had it as reply from carrier (i rarely use my voice number but its handy sometimes)

Hangouts NEEDS to fix the issue where after you start typing text you can’t attach a file/sticker/whatever. It is infuriating

MichaelFranz

lol i thought i was the only one that was driven nuts by this

gambit07

It’s got to be one of the most idiotic and backward design choices of all time. Each iteration I’m thinking to myself, they must have fixed it this time, it’s a bug not a feature. And every time I’m disappointed

She_Beast

Also, the little Hangouts icon in the text entry field is still the old color of Hangouts green. 2/10 Nice try, Google.

gambit07

Really feels like the app is in beta right now. I’m hoping they are still polishing up a big Hangouts v3 release with the complete material design update plus bug fixes

Lucky Armpit

That’s pretty much the main reason I went away from Hangouts to Messenger. That, and suggesting complete and total strangers when searching for a contact.

Scott Smith

They also need to fix the fact that voice mail playback defaults to using the speaker. I don’t want every voicemail message blared to the world. Give me the option to make the default the headset.

Liquidretro

Thanks for the DL

Tom S

Give me an option to select which number I’m sending from on new SMS/MMS messages and it’ll be perfect. Smart Reply defaults to my Google Voice for new texts and I don’t want that.

nmaxfield

not sure if you’re aware, but you can manually select where to send sms from, but it’s buried in settings->sms. ideally it would be nice if google put that option in the message thread, kinda like how you can select hangout message or sms when you have conversations merged. an extra option to choose the number right there would be awesome.

Tom S

You mean the same setting where you select Smart Reply that I mentioned, right?

Yeah, it’s a pain in the butt to dig in that deep for each text I want to change from default.

No_Ledge

You can select from the message line now. I have 3 options: hangouts, blue SMS (GV #), grey SMS (carrier #)

Does it say whether the number is your carrier number or GV number in the part you blacked out? Not that I don’t know my own numbers, but just curious.

No_Ledge

No the blacked out part is the number of the contact, not your number, but after you select one of the SMS options, the part that says “send hangouts message” will change to “send SMS to _______ from my [Google Voice]/[Carrier] number”

Tom S

Awesome. Thanks. I may actually sideload an update for the first time ever instead of waiting for it to push to my device, as long as that doesn’t screw up future automated updates. LOL

Tom Sweeney

That is only for who you are sending it to. It doesn’t allow you to toggle between sending FROM your GV or carrier number.

No_Ledge

No it isn’t. If i select the grey SMS, “Send Hangouts Message” changes to “Send SMS to 123-4567 from my Carrier number”. If i select the blue SMS it says “Send SMS to 123-4567 from my Google Voice number”.

No_Ledge

You can choose from the message line now. See my reply to Tom S below, I posted a screenshot.

nmaxfield

sure enough. i noticed that not long after i posted. pretty awesome 🙂

Teejay Card

Selecting contacts for a new text is still ridiculously sloooooooow. Stopped using it last week and until that’s fixed I won’t be using it.

Arnold

Stopped using Hangouts for SMS in general. Way too slow. Textra is 10x better.

Johngi

Ah I thought it was maybe just my phone, thanks for clarifying it for me

XvierX

Beddy beddy nizzzze

rslh

I discovered Google Messenger 2 weeks ago and I’ve been using that ever since.

Keith

Yes, Messenger is much better for those without Google Voice or Gmail chat integration. But if you’re like me and use GV/chat, then Hangouts is the tits.

This appears to have fixed the issue where you couldn’t send group mms with your carrier number as well.

Brent Cooper

Can someone explain how they use hangouts? I would love to migrate over to the service, but everyone I know still uses sms so I don’t know if I would be able to use Hangouts to it’s full potential.

Mike Aurin

I used to use Hangouts for SMS and then actual Hangouts between classmates and myself. Now…neither.

Joe Centineo

You can use hangouts as your primary SMS app. If you have people that use SMS and hangouts it will merge the conversation into one and you can choose where you send the message to with the option box next to the message box.

Hangouts uses SMS as well. It will walk you through using the app for SMS.

Kevin

i use it for sms and google chat. it’s far from perfect, but not too many complaints on my end. i like it because if i’m talking to someone on chat using a computer, i can continue the conversation on my phone with no issues. and i like having sms abilities just because i don’t want 2 or 3 apps to do essentially the same thing.

Brent Cooper

So is there a way for sms messages to appear on my computer or tablet? Or are the sms messages stuck on my phone and only the hangouts messages appear on multiple devices?

Ideally I’d like to be able to send a message from my phone to my girlfriend(who has an iPhone), and when she replies, see that reply on my phone, tablet, computer, ect. Is there a way to do this?

Kevin

if you use a google voice number for sms, then you can get them on the computer, but using your carrier number you cannot, unfortunately.

DanSan

pushbullet.

i use it and its great. doesnt support hangout messages but does support SMS. Can be watching tv on the couch with my computer and never have to pick up my phone. it pops up the text messages, allows you to respond and also create new messages.

DanSan

for the longest time i used hangouts for everything.. both sms and hangouts chats.

Recently i had problems with hangouts not sending MMS, think its my rom so I switched to using Textra for SMS and keeping hangouts just for the hangouts messages. my girlfriend and I use hangouts to chat with each other, also have a few group chats with friends which we all keep on hangouts instead of SMS/MMS

William Kister

I do the same thing. Textra is the best with SMS and MMS and offers nice .gif files. I wish I was able to share location with it. For that I use Hangouts, which I also use for video chat and have it integrated with my Google Voice so I can text from my computer using my GV number.

gambit07

I’ve migrated a bunch of people I know over to hangouts. It’s so much easier to send hangouts and there’s a lot of flexibility with group chats + icons etc that you don’t get with regular sms. Plus it’s just more reliable, you have a data connection or wifi and you’re good to go. I’ve never found MMS to be extremely reliable and it cuts the quality of whatever you send way down. If you briefly explain that to people they will switch, I have iPhone friends who use it!

A.Miller

Agreed. I’m guessing Hangouts is used by such a small percentage of users. I bet SMS is the way 95% of cell phone users in the US communicate.

JRomeo

you can send any gif animation you save from the web thru hangouts, and the recipient will see it. one cool thing i like about it, is that hangouts mixes my google voice messages, my t-mobile sms messages, and my hangout messages, all in the same conversation per person i happen to be texting with.

Primey_

So when will Google actually follow their own guidelines?

faganm24

At first glance I thought they were updating it now, but nope. Still not following Material Design.

Adding BBM features, I can’t go back to Hangouts until they update to Material Design until then the new Messenger app is my go to App.

Ray

Still doesn’t follow Google’s own material design guidelines Smh

Keith

Close enough. I’m not losing any sleep over it.

MichaelFranz

i love the design of the new stock messaging app from google in lollipop. need hangouts to be much like that

Suicide_Note

This isn’t the full Material Design makeover yet. It seems they’re doing it in steps, for whatever reason.

Jason Downing

Google needs to step their game up with this. As unfortunate as it is to admit, Facebook messenger is leaps and bounds ahead. I just don’t use it.

Some Random Dude

Apk or it didn’t happen

MikeSaver

ur a bitff roof roof roof

Kevin

i hope this solves the merged convo issue. i keep having my text/hangouts conversations split up within the same contact. even when i try to join or merge them, it still doesnt show up properly.

BeLogical

I haven’t had the issue you are dealing with, mine always merge fine.

Kevin

i tried that, no luck. for one of my contacts it shows his name just as his phone number for texts, but his contact name for hangouts. in his contact, both phone and email are there. i’ve merged any multiple contacts for him, and tried merging convos on hangouts. still splits them for some reason.

jerflash

I dont have the update yet and no signs of an apk currently. wanted to give these a try